John Rawling: 'not Many Have So Visibly Revelled on the Test Stage'

Darren Gough may not have been the greatest bowler to have played for England - although his 229 Test wickets command respect in any company - but there cannot be many who have so visibly revelled in playing on the international stage. His infectious enthusiasm clearly inspires those who play alongside him, not least young James Anderson who could suffer more than most from the absence of Barnsley's most famous sporting son when England's team take the field for the third Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

"I'm crap at talking to girls; I really need them to come and chat to me," said Anderson in a recent interview before adding, "but I'm learning a lot from the England guys."

He did not elaborate on who the chat-up kings might be but the twinkle in Gough's eye would suggest to anyone that he has never been hamstrung by shyness and one suspects the odd tip or two might have amounted to rather more than how to drop it on a line and length. Like Ian Botham 20 years earlier Dazzler has been a man to command attention on and off the cricket field.

Exactly how you begin to replace someone whose bowling has had a talismanic effect on the team for so many years is just one of the problems Michael Vaughan will have to address. Who will become the senior pro among the bowlers? Who takes the new ball and who keeps spirits up when it all goes pear-shaped? Yes, Gough is a hard act to follow.

The tributes handed out by Gough's peers last week after the Yorkshireman's retirement from Test cricket were warm. Ray Illingworth, England's main man when Gough was first selected for his country, typified the reaction: "He was up there with the best and he was a great character to have in the dressing room." And Bob Willis, England's premier strike bowler in earlier years, added: "I feel desperately sorry for him because he fought so hard to come back and it has been a waste of time now because his comeback was so short."

But you could practically count on one man to say Goughie has got it wrong by walking away from England, in effect to fall on his sword before the selectors told him his form in the first two Tests did not justify his inclusion in the third. Brian Close, perhaps the best Yorkshire captain ever and surely one of the hardest, barmiest and most competitive men ever to have made a living from the game, says Goughie should have soldiered on and, if necessary, modified his bowling if his body could no longer cope with the demands of being a genuine fast bowler.

"It really is a pity he's retiring. He's come back and said he's throwing it in after two matches, and that's a bit premature," said Close. "You can't just come back from a long lay-off and expect it to be there. He says he's going to play more games for Yorkshire, which is fine, but it's the same bloody game and he really should have given his knee an extended trial before making a decision like that.

"I had the whole of 1953 off because I did my knee playing soccer [Close played professional football and cricket] and had to play all the next season with a pressure bandage round my knee, and I had to get fit again after a bad car smash in 1956. It's just bloody hard work but you do it. Darren's been the best of the bunch in his time but he should have given it an extended go to get back."

Close never had the run as England captain that his leadership qualities and all-round talent merited - he skippered on seven occasions, winning six - but he helped make Yorkshire the dominant cricketing force of the 60s and is generally recognised as one of the great cricketing captains. He sympathises with the problems now facing Vaughan as he tries to breathe new life into England, but argues there is no quick fix because there is a lack of fast bowling alternatives to Gough.

"The standard of bowling is poor and you can't disguise the fact. They get given wickets in one-day cricket and now our bowlers can't even bowl straight. I watch and they're sending down four bad balls an over. But they're not bowling enough. All the best bowlers in my day wanted to bowl every day. Now they're being paid to not bowl with these central contracts, which are a waste of bloody money.

"The best way to learn is playing the game and learning to work together as a team. If nothing is happening you don't just give up; you introduce variety into the play. Even on a good pitch bowlers must always be asking questions and eventually the batsman will get stumped for an answer. South Africa are getting these great scores but batting is only relative to bowling standards.

"I believe there is no lack of talent in the game but too often talent is all it is. Kids are not making the progress they should. And part of the problem is one-day cricket. They are looking to bowl where batsmen can't score instead of concentrating on doing something positive with the ball. We are regularly giving away scores of 400, 500 and even 600 which just never seemed to happen in my day, because we had bowlers who knew how to use their skills.

"Something is wrong. They spend money on a cricket academy and money on the England coach Duncan Fletcher. But tell me one player who has benefited from his coaching. Name me a player he has improved. When a team gives away big scores it's because of awful bowling. That's the real reason and it is a fact that our modern generation of English fast bowlers can't bowl line and length."

You can always rely on Close to speak his mind and it might be easy for some to dismiss his observations as being those of little relevance because they are formed through the experiences of another era. But it is as well to remember that Close was a highly successful one-day captain of both Yorkshire and Somerset and was good enough and bloody-minded enough to have stood up to the West Indies attack of Michael Holding and Andy Roberts, with a softy called Wayne Daniel at first change, when he played for England at the age of 45 in 1976.

There are many people who will feel a little sad that the smiling figure of Gough will not be tearing in with the new ball on Thursday, not least the player himself and the young bowlers who hold him in such high esteem. You get the feeling, speaking to Close, that he wishes he could still be on the field for England now and would have been just about the last man to have walked away voluntarily from Test cricket. And his message to one of the few English quicks he actually rates would be: "Keep working and never say never again, because you are an awful long time retired."